291.70973 

Ad28 


ADDRESSES 


AT  THE  INAUGURATION 


OF 

I 

REY  WILLIAM  C.  CATTELL,  D.D., 


PRESIDENT  OF  LAFAYETTE  COLLEGE, 
EASTON,  PENNSYLVANIA, 


JULY  26,  1864. 


PUBLISHED  BY  ORDER  OF  THE  BOARD  OF  TRUSTEES. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

WILLIAM  S.  & ALFRED  MAETIEN, 

No.  606  Chestnut  Street. 

1864. 


UNIVERSITY  OF 
ILLINOIS  LIBRARY 
AT  URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 
STACKS 


UNIVERSITY  OF 
ILLINOIS  LIBRARY 
AT  URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 
STACKS 


The  Inaguration  exercises  took  place  in  the  College  Chapel,  Tuesday  after- 
noon, July  26,  1864,  in  the  presence  of  the  Trustees,  the  Faculty  and 
Students  of  the  College,  and  a number  of  the  members  of  Synod,  Alumni, 
citizens  of  Easton,  and  other  friends  of  the  Institution. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Hand  of  Greenwich,  N.  J.,  opened  the  exercises  with  prayer, 
after  which  the  Hon.  James  Pollock,  President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees, 
delivered  the  following 


INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESS. 


Ladies  and  Gentlemen: — As  President  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees,  I have  a very  pleasant  duty  to 
perform  on  this  occasion — to  formally  induct  into 
office  the  President  elect  of  Lafayette  College. 

Permit  me  to  congratulate  you  upon  the  auspi- 
cious circumstances  under  which  we  meet.  Hereto- 
tofore,  this  College,  located  in  one  of  the  most  beau- 
tiful and  fertile  regions  of  our  State,  under  the  care 
and  control  of  a venerable  Synod  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  with  a patronage  that  should  command 
success,  has  exhibited  symptoms  of  premature  decay — 
its  very  existence  has  been  a series  of  struggles  for 
life.  With  all  its  natural  advantages — with  all  the 
talents  and  learning  which  have  distinguished  its 
Professors,  it  has  not  realized  the  expectations  of  its 
friends  and  founders.  Causes,  deeply  to  be  regret- 


4 


ted,  local  and  personal,  have  prevented  the  consum- 
mation of  their  desires — the  realization  of  the  hopes 
of  the  generous  and  patriotic  men  who  planted  and 
nurtured  this  Institution. 

But  the  hour  of  darkness  and  gloom  has  passed — 
and  to-day,  within  her  walls  all  is  harmony  and 
peace;  and  at  this  hour,  in  analogy  with  nature  now 
robed  in  sunshine,  and  smiling  after  the  storm,  the 
light  of  a genial  sun  pouring  down  upon  us  through 
the  riven  and  scattered  clouds,  Lafayette  College 
stands  revealed  in  the  light  of  returning  prosper- 
ity, and  all  without  betokens  favor,  success,  and 
triumph ! 

We  have  met  to-day  to  witness  the  inauguration 
of  one  well  known  and  appreciated  by  you  all:  and 
who  has  been  honored  by  a most  happy,  cordial,  and 
unanimous  election  by  the  Synod  and  Board  of  Trus- 
tees. We  present  him  to  you  as  the  scholar  and  the 
man — the  highest  style  of  man — the  Christian  gentle- 
man; and  one  who  combines,  in  a remarkable  degree, 
the  quiet  dignity  of  the  Christian  minister,  the  ac- 
complishments of  the  scholar,  and  the  no  less  im- 
portant qualifications  of  an  administrative  officer. 

But  before  the  formal  transfer  to  him  of  his  Presi- 
dential authority,  permit  a few  general  remarks  ap- 
propriate to  the  occasion. 

We  have  assembled  to  inaugurate  the  President 
of  a Literary  Institution.  What  theme,  then,  more 
appropriate  than  education'?  The  primary  idea  of 


5 


education  is  development  of  mind,  morals,  and  man- 
ners. It  comprehends  the  entire  series  of  instruc- 
tion and  discipline  that  strengthens  the  intellect, 
controls  the  understanding  and  the  will,  moulds  the 
manners  and  the  man,  and  adds  to  knowledge,  truth ; 
and  to  both,  virtue.  Education  is  not  learning — it  is 
the  mode  of  its  acquisition.  Learning  is  not  only  the 
acquisition  of  knowledge;  but  knowledge  acquired 
through  education.  An  educated  man  may  not  he, 
and  is  not  always  a learned  man.  He  may  have 
received  the  training  necessary- — may  possess  the 
ability  to  acquire  knowledge,  but  fail  to  apply  the 
forces  at  his  command  to  secure  the  desired  result. 
A collegiate  education  is  not  conclusive  evidence  of 
scholarship.  A college,  is  education  in  one  of  its 
modes  or  forms — the  educational  machinery  by  which 
knowledge  is  acquired,  and  through  which  mind 
moves  and  acts  in  the  acquisition  of  learning — a 
power  to  give  strength  to  intellect,  and  energy  to 
youth  and  manhood. 

Education,  in  its  development,  has  relation  to  man, 
as  such — to  man  in  his  individuality — to  his  man- 
hood, as  the  result  of  character  and  culture.  Our 
educational  Institutions  are  organized  systems  of  de- 
velopments— of  individual  development;  and  when 
they  fail  to  recognize  men  in  their  individuality,  and 
to  promote  their  advancement  in  the  progressive 
work  of  intellectual  and  moral  development,  they 
abandon  their  true  position,  and  neglect  the  duties 


6 


of  their  high  calling.  By  individuality,  I do  not 
mean  individualism,  which  is  selfishness  intensified; 
but  that  distinct  oneness — that  separate  and  poten- 
tial existence  that  marks  us  as  men,  and  makes  the 
individual  man  the  substratum  of  social  and  national 
organization ; investing  him  not  merely  with  indivi- 
dual existence,  but  with  rights,  privileges,  and  pre- 
rogatives, as  also  duties  and  responsibilities,  which 
are  his  own,  unchallenged  and  uncontrolled,  except 
by  Him  who  created  and  crowned  him  with  honor. 

The  history  of  the  world  is  a history  of  individual 
development.  Nations  are  but  individuals  in  aggre- 
gation; national  greatness  is  dependent  upon  indi- 
vidual and  personal  progress;  and  nations  cease  to 
be  great  when  the  individuals  cease  to  be  men. 
Therefore  it  is,  that  every  system  of  education 
should  recognize  man  in  his  individuality,  and  de- 
velope  his  manhood,  as  the  certain  means  of  securing 
personal,  social,  and  national  elevation. 

It  is  a significant  fact,  that  the  educational  and 
historical  epochs  of  the  world  exhibit  a wondrous 
unity  and  harmony  of  the  law  of  individual  develop- 
ment, with  moral,  social,  and  national  progress. 
Take  the  earliest  epoch,  that  of  Oriental  civilization, 
and  we  find  the  status  of  the  man  determined  the 
character  of  the  government;  and  the  opinions  men 
entertained  of  themselves  revealed  the  idiosyncracies 
of  the  age.  The  government  was  patriarchal  and 
despotic — man  the  child  and  the  slave;  the  rela- 


7 


tionship  established  the  despotism — that  destroyed 
individuality,  and  man  knew  not  himself,  his  rights 
or  powers.  The  education  of  the  age  was  in  har- 
mony with  those  conditions,  and  produced  those 
results.  Grecian  and  Roman  civilization  was  an 
advance  over  the  Oriental.  A superior  education 
elevated  the  man — made  him  a citizen — but  the 
property  of  the  State.  His  citizenship  secured  for 
him  protection,  but  the  protection  of  the  govern- 
ment made  him  the  property  of  the  State;  and,  as 
such,  he  was  protected.  He  formed  no  part  of  the 
State,  for  his  individuality  was  lost  in  the  tyranny 
that  oppressed  him. 

Travelling  down  the  track  of  time,  the  revelations 
of  history  indicate  a rising  manhood,  a more  de- 
veloped individuality,  under  the  power  of  education, 
and  the  pressure  of  progressive  thought  and  expand- 
ing intellect.  In  modern  Europe  we  discover  man 
lifted  to  an  equality  with  the  State,  but  not  above 
it.  Man  and  the  State  is  the  rule  of  European 
civilization. 

The  light  of  the  Reformation,  flashing  through 
the  night  of  the  dark  ages,  revealed  man  to  himself, 
and  caused  him  to  realize  the  value  and  power  of 
his  manhood.  Education  was  reformed;  truth,  flow- 
ing from  the  fountain  of  eternal  truth,  bade  man 
look  upward,  and  find  within  himself  the  image  of 
his  great  Original.  The  Reformation,  in  its  influ- 
ence and  results,  prepared  the  world  for  the  advent 


8 


of  a new  system,  based  upon  the  rights  of  man,  and 
the  powers  of  a restored  and  recognized  manhood. 
Under  such  guidance  we  move  along  the  highway 
of  the  ages,  and  come  to  our  own  land- — to  America, 
“the  land  of  the  free  heart’s  hope  and  home” — the 
land  of  progress,  of  development — the  historic  centre 
of  the  world.  Here  we  find  men — not  the  slaves  of 
despots,  not  the  property  of  the  State — not  merely 
equal  to  the  State — but  men  who  stand  erect  in  the 
dignity  of  their  manhood,  masters  of  the  State,  and 
personally  free.  In  other  lands  the  government 
begins  and  ends  with  the  throne;  here  it  begins 
and  ends  with  the  people.  It  is  what  the  people 
make  it.  It  is  the  political  incarnation  of  their 
will.  Their  power  we  find  embodied  in  the  simple 
forms  of  our  political  and  social  order.  Our  educa- 
tion, reaching  to  the  practical  and  real,  the  spiritual 
and  the  free,  has  made  our  citizens  sovereigns,  and 
our  nation  great — great  in  her  men,  in  her  intellec- 
tual and  moral  power,  in  her  progress,  and  the 
bright  promise  of  a greater  future.  So  much  for 
education  in  its  relations  to  personal  and  national 
progress  and  development.  These  thoughts  are 
merely  suggestive;  they  cannot  now  be  elaborated. 

The  office  of  teacher,  whether  in  our  common 
schools  or  higher  seminaries,  is  one  of  dignity  and 
responsibility.  It  is  mind  acting  upon  mind,  and 
leaving  its  impress  there.  The  teacher  should  be 
fitted  for  his  work.  It  is  gratifying  to  know,  that 


9 


we  have  in  this  Institution  men  engaged  in  this 
high  calling,  in  whom  all  have  entire  confidence — 
able,  learned,  and  zealous  men,  who  realize  their 
vocation,  and  well  discharge  its  duties.  The  age 
and  the  hour  have  their  demands  upon  them  and 
every  American  scholar.  Never,  in  the  history  of 
the  world,  was  this  demand  more  imperious  and 
pressing  than  at  this  moment.  The  land  we  love  is 
America — the  only  America.  War  is  upon  us,  and 
in  its  mighty  convulsions  our  nation  trembles  to  its 
centre.  It  is  a war  of  systems.  Man,  free  man, 
against  tyranny  and  oppression — right  against  wrong, 
truth  against  error,  freedom  against  despotism.  It 
is  not  alone  our  war;  we  .are  fighting  the  world’s 
great  battle  for  freedom  and  human  rights.  Amid 
the  throes  of  war  and  revolution  the  voices  of  six 
thousand  years  are  heard,  bidding  us  go  forward, 
calling  upon  us  to  maintain  our  own  rights,  and 
vindicate  the  rights  of  earth’s  millions  who  long  to 
be  free.  This  demand  is  not  made  alone  upon  our 
armies  in  the  field — the  call  is  upon  every  American 
scholar,  upon  all  who  love  their  country,  who  have 
the  intelligence  to  appreciate  and  the  courage  to 
defend  it. 

Permit  me  now,  Mr.  President  elect,  to  say  that 
the  office  to  which  you  have  been  so  honourably 
called — not  by  your  seeking,  but  by  our  choice — is 
one  of  high  trust  and  solemn  responsibility.  From 
the  position  you  occupy,  it  is  yours,  under  God,  to 


10 


act  directly  upon  the  mind,  the  morals,  and  the 
heart.  You  deal  not  only  with  the  past  and  the 
present,  but  with  the  future.  Like  the  artist  of 
old,  but  in  a higher  sense,  you  work  for  posterity, 
for  eternity.  The  impressions  made  by  you  will  be 
as  immortal  as  the  intellect  upon  which  you  act. 
Let  them  be  the  impressions  of  truth  and  virtue. 
I need  not  say  to  you,  that  the  system  of  education 
that  ignores  the  Bible,  and  shuts  out  from  its  teach- 
ings the  truth  as  contained  in  that  volume  of  eter- 
nal truth,  is  a blank — a chaos  dark  and  wild,  with- 
out light  or  life.  Secular  knowledge  may  be  and 
is  valuable,  but  in  that  book  is  found  the  “rich 
treasures”  of  knowledge,  peerless  and  priceless.  Let 
your  teaching  be  consecrated  by  religion,  and  let 
the  young  men  who  wait  upon  your  instructions 
receive,  above  all  other  teaching,  that  which  will 
add  to  their  wisdom  here,  and  make  them  “wise 
unto  salvation.” 

To  your  associates  in  the  Faculty,  let  me  say,  that 
in  giving  you  a new  President,  we  are  giving  you  a 
man  emphatically  of  your  own  choice — a former  col- 
league, known  and  beloved  by  you  all.  With  him, 
and  each  other,  you  will  be  a band  of  Christian  bro- 
thers. He  will  need  your  aid  and  encouragement. 
The  Institution  will  require  all  your  energies  and 
strength.  Give  them  cheerfully  and  prayerfully  to 
the  cause  of  Christian  education — to  the  cause  of 
God  and  your  country.  Let  religion  and  patriotism 


11 


blend  harmoniously  in  your  teachings.  Let  your 
names,  and  the  names  of  the  students  of  Lafayette, 
be  for  ever  associated  with  those  who,  in  the  hour  of 
their  country’s  peril,  offered  life  and  all  in  her 
defence;  who,  true  to  the  inspiration  of  American 
manhood,  stood  in  the  world’s  presence  the  noble 
advocates  and  defenders  of  American  freedom  and 
American  nationality. 

One  word  to  the  students.  Remember  your  in- 
structors are  Christian  gentlemen.  Ever  respect 
and  trust  them  as  such.  Let  there  be  a oneness  of 
aim  among  all  who  may  assemble  within  these  vene- 
rable Halls,  consecrated  to  learning  and  religion. 
Remember  that  disobedience  is  always  wrong — 
often  a crime.  Cultivate  a noble  and  manly  spirit; 
and  let  the  members  of  the  Faculty  feel  that  you 
regard  them,  not  as  task-masters  and  rulers,  but  as 
friends,  worthy  of  your  confidence  and  love.  Dare 
to  do  right — fear  to  do  wrong.  This  is  manhood — 
this  is  true  courage. 

And  now,  Mr.  President,  as  the  last  act  I have  to 
perform  on  this  occasion,  I present  to  you,  in  the 
name  and  by  the  authority  of  the  Trustees  of  Lafay- 
ette College,  these  keys  of  the  College,  as  symbols  of 
your  authority.  Take  them,  and  on  assuming  the 
duties  of  your  office,  remember,  also,  your  responsi- 
bilities, and  meet  them  firmly,  conscientiously,  and 
in  the  fear  of  God.  In  the  performance  of  your 
arduous  duties  be  assured  you  will  have  the  sympa- 


12 


thy,  the  cooperation,  and  prayers  of  the  friends  of 
the  Institution.  And  when  your  work  here  below 
is  done,  and  the  last  lessons  of  earth  are  over,  may 
teacher  and  student- — all  here  to-day,  or  who  may 
hereafter  enter  these  Halls,  meet  in  that  upper  and 
better  world,  where  happiness  is  eternal,  and  know- 
ledge has  no  limit. 

On  receiving  the  keys  of  the  College,  Dr.  Cattell  responded  as  follows: 

I thank  you,  sir,  for  the  very  kind  terms  in  which 
you  have  been  pleased  to  convey  the  solemn  trust 
which  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia  and  the  Trustees  of 
Lafayette  College  have  committed  to  my  hands.  In 
accepting  it,  be  assured  that,  under  God,  I rely 
most  for  success  upon  that  active  and  cordial  coope- 
ration from  them,  of  which  I have  been  so  fully 
assured.  Returning  to  this  beautiful  region  of  coun- 
try and  to  these  Halls,  the  scene  of  my  first  labors 
as  an  instructor  in  liberal  studies:  renewing  the 
pleasant  associations  of  other  years  with  the  respected 
citizens  of  Easton  and  with  my  esteemed  colleagues 
in  the  Faculty,  whose  abilities  more  than  compen- 
sate for  any  deficiencies  of  my  own,  I enter  upon  the 
duties  of  my  office  with  a confident  trust  and  a 
cheerful  hope,  though  not  unmindful  of  its  grave 
responsibilities,  its  cares  and  its  toils. 

Then  followed  the  Inaugural  Address,  at  the  conclusion  of  which  the 
benediction  was  pronounced  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Andrews,  of  Doylestown, 
Pennsylvania. 


INAUGURAL  ADDRESS. 


Gentlemen  of  the  Board  of  Trustees, 
and  Friends  of  Christian  Education  : 

The  design  of  College  studies,  as  distinguished 
from  those  of  all  other  schools,  is  the  culture  of  the 
human  faculties,  without  immediate  reference  to  any 
specific  business,  or  even  professional  pursuit.  The 
definite  aim  of  the  primary  school,  and  of  the  Uni- 
versity, is  to  impart  useful  information.  The  facul- 
ties of  the  mind  are  used  as  instruments  to  gather 
and  shape  the  material  for  future  building;  while 
training,  considered  in  itself,  is  only  an  incidental, 
though  a very  great  advantage.  The  shortest  and 
easiest  way  of  securing  these  materials  is  therefore 
the  best.  All  labor  and  time-saving  appliances 
facilitate  the  object  in  view.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  definite  object  of  the  College,  as  a place  of  libe- 
ral culture,  is  training  for  its  own  sake,  as  distinct 
from  mere  knowledge.  It  is  Education  in  the  pro- 
per sense  of  the  term — not  the  pouring  in,  or  the 
filling  up,  but  the  educing,  the  leading  forth,  the 
harmonious  and  symmetrical  development  of  all  our 
faculties.  Although  this  process  is  inseparable  from 
the  acquisition  of  that  which  is  both  true  and  useful 


14 


— ancl  while  that  system  of  education  is  undoubtedly 
the  best,  which  secures  proper  training,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  the  greatest  amount  of  useful  knowledge 
— it  is,  nevertheless,  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  the 
determinate  object  of  liberal  culture  is  the  mind 
itself — by  its  own  exercises — and,  consequently,  that 
all  labor-saving  inventions  defeat  the  very  object 
contemplated. 

The  Germans  give  the  right  word  to  their  Col- 
leges— Gymnasia.  This  term  they  borrowed  from 
the  ancients,  with  whom  Scholrn  Philosophise  and 
Gymnasia  were  convertible  terms.  As  every  well 
appointed  gymnasium  for  physical  culture  differs, 
for  example,  from  the  riding-school  and  the  fenc- 
ing-school, in  requiring  many  things  to  be  practised 
for  the  sake  of  the  exercise — so  the  college  differs 
from  all  schools  of  special  instruction,  in  requiring 
many  studies  to  be  pursued,  not  so  much  for  their 
practical  application  in  after  life,  as  for  the  mental 
discipline  they  afford.  Much,  therefore,  of  what 
has  been  learned  in  the  college,  may  fade  from  the 
memory  of  the  student  as  the  ink  dries  upon  his 
diploma;  and  yet  its  substantive  value  remains  in 
the  power  and  strength  which  the  pursuit  of  these 
studies  has  developed  in  the  man  himself.  Mathe- 
matical symbols,  and  the  ipsissima  verba  of  the 
classics,  may  never  actually  re-appear  in  the  speech 
of  the  statesman,  the  brief  of  the  lawyer,  the  diag- 
nosis of  the  physician,  the  balance-sheet  of  the  mer- 


15 


chant,  or  the  sermon  of  the  divine;  yet  those  years 
of  toil  have  not  been  lost  when  the  student-  went 
down  into  the  Palaestra  to  wrestle  with  Euclid  and 
Plato.  The  sinewy  grasp  with  which  the  practised 
athlete  now  lays  hold  of  whatever  subject  claims 
his  attention,  in  any  profession  or  business  pursuit, 
reveals  the  value  of  that  culture  which  disciplined 
alike  the  memory,  the  reasoning  powers,  and  the 
imagination. 

It  is  not  claimed  that  a collegiate  course  will  in- 
variably produce  these  desirable  results.  The  sterile 
soil  yields  no  harvest  to  the  ceaseless  and  well 
directed  labor  of  the  husbandman — and  liberal  cul- 
ture on  some,  minds,  is  as  much  a waste  of  time  and 
labor,  as  plowing  and  sowing  the  sand;  and  it  is  for 
every  parent  to  judge  for  himself  whether  time  and 
money  may  not  be  wasted  by  his  son  in  the  pursuit 
of  liberal  studies,  and  whether,  indeed,  he  may  not 
become  thereby  unfitted  for  those  branches  of  humble 
industry,  to  which  his  talents — or  rather  his  want  of 
talents — may  have  indicated  his  providential  call. 

Nor  is  it  pretended  that  the  substantial  results  of 
liberal  culture  can  only  be  secured  within  the  walls 
of  . some  chartered  institution.  There  are  too  many 
illustrious  names,  in  the  history  of  our  race,  which 
have  never  been  upon  the  rolls  of  any  college:  but 
these,  we  contend,  have  received  the  equivalent  of  a 
course  of  liberal  study,  in  the  various  educational 
processes  by  which  they  were  moulded  to  usefulness 


16 


and  greatness.  There  are  other  and  valuable  modes 
of  exercise  besides  those  which  the  regular  gym- 
nasium affords;  and  the  friends  of  college  education 
insist  only  upon  this,  that  as  in  a well  arranged  gym- 
nasium there  is  a course  of  physical  exercise,  best  cal- 
culated to  strengthen  and  develope  the  powers  of  the 
body;  so  in  the  course  of  college  studies,  arranged 
after  centuries  of  experience,  and  by  the  wisest  of 
men,  there  can  be  developed  in  the  best  mode,  to 
the  greatest  extent,  and  in  the  shortest  time,  those 
higher  powers  with  which  the  Creator  has  endowed 
us,  and  in  the  exercise  of  which,  man  rises  to  the 
highest  sphere  of  dignity,  enjoyment,  and  usefulness. 

It  is  not,  however,  my  purpose  to  detain  you  with 
any  discussion,  either  of  the  design  or  value  of  liberal 
culture.  On  these  points  thinking  men  are  now 
very  generally  agreed,  and  the  present  generation 
of  the  American  people,  stigmatized  so  often  as 
wholly  absorbed  in  the  accumulation  of  material 
gain,  has  multiplied  throughout  our  land  these  col- 
leges, having  substantially  the  same  curriculum  of 
studies,  and  designed  to  make  not  so  much  the 
mechanic,  the  farmer,  the  merchant ; nor  even  the 
lawyer,  the  physician,  or  the  divine;  but  the  educated 
man,  in  se  ipso  tot  us  teres  atque  rotundus*  And 
while  the  student  is  thus,  in  a high  and  noble  sense, 
aan  end  unto  himself, ”f  he  becomes  at  the  same 

* Hor.  Sat.  11,  7,  86. 

f Sir  William  Hamilton.  Discussions,  &c.,  Am.  Ed.,  p.  689. 


17 


time,  a distributor  of  all  good  influences  in  his  day 
and  generation,  to  all  classes  and  conditions  of  men. 
We  claim  this  as  the  proud  distinction  of  every 
truly  educated  man,  that  he  is  in  advance  of  his  age; 
and  like  the  base  of  supplies  established  along  the 
line  of  an  advancing  hostf  it  is  from  the  liberally 
educated  minds  of  the  world  that  society  in  its  on- 
ward march  is  replenished  and  strengthened  at  every 
stage  of  its  progress. 

Nor  can  the  friends  of  liberal  education  resist  a 
feeling  of  honorable  pride  in  contemplating  these 
numerous  institutions  as  so  many  monuments  of 
triumph,  erected  upon  the  field  where  a hard  fought 
battle  with  ignorance  and  prejudice  was  won.  To 
speak  in  military  phrase,  the  whole  ground  has  been 
fought  over,  and  the  opponents  of  liberal  culture 
driven  from  one  entrenchment  after  another.  The 
opposition  to  any  system  of  education  for  the  masses, 
which  for  so  long  a time  was  both  persistent  and 
vigorous,  early  assumed  formidable  proportions. 
Said  Gov.  Berkley,  of  Virginia,  in  1650:  “I  thank 
God,  there  are  no  free-schools  nor  printing,  and  I 
hope  we  shall  not  have  them  these  hundred  years. 
God  keep  us  from  both.”  Happily  there  were  mas* 
ter  minds  among  the  first  settlers  of  our  country,  who 
thought  otherwise;  and  they  proposed  at  once  to 
move  on  the  enemy’s  works.  Harvard  College  was 
founded  within  twenty  years  after  Plymouth  Bock 
was  consecrated  by  the  Pilgrims’  prayers,  and  while 
2 


18 


yet  the  forest  trees  were  standing  in  the  streets  laid 
out  for  the  settlement  at  Massachusetts  Bay.  And 
notwithstanding  the  boast  of  Gov.  Berkley,  the  second 
College  in  this  country  was  founded  in  Virginia,  and 
by  the  same  generation  that  heard  his  scornful  words. 

These  two  Colleges,  with  Yale  and  Nassau  Hall, 
(the  next  in  order  of  time,  as  well  as  of  importance,) 
constituted  the  great  quadrangular  fortification  in 
which  the  friends  of  liberal  culture  securely  en- 
trenched themselves,  and  from  which  they  issued 
forth,  from  time  to  time,  to  make  conquests.  Before 
the  Revolution  they  had  established  fortified  posi- 
tions at  Philadelphia,  New  York,  Providence,  New 
Brunswick,  and  Dartmouth.  These  outposts  they 
firmly  held  in  the  cause  of  liberal  education,  while 
they  waged  another  war  in  the  no  less  sacred  cause 
of  political  liberty;  and  when  this  was  won,  again 
they  unfurled  their  banners,  and  the  whole  line 
moved  fonvard  to  the  final  conquest  of  the  entire 
land. 

Yet,  however  gratifying  this  triumph,  it  must  be 
confessed  that  there  remains  cause  for  anxiety  and 
alarm,  in  view  of  a most  serious  defect,  widely  pre- 
valent in  our  present  system  of  liberal  education. 

I refer  to  the  comparatively  small  amount  of  bibli- 
cal instruction  given  in  most  of  our  colleges;  the 
intellectual  faculties*  alone  being  considered  worthy 

* “The  design  of  public  seminaries  is  specially  to  develope  and  culti- 
vate, to  the  highest  perfection,  the  intellectual  power  of  the  nation.”— 
Dr.  Way  land,  Thoughts  on  the  present  Collegiate  System  in  the  United  States. 


19 


of  culture  and  development,  to  the  almost  entire 
neglect  of  the  noblest  endowment  of  man  — his 
moral  and  religious  nature.  It  is  to  this  subject  I 
would  especially  invite  your  attention  upon  the 
present  occasion. 

The  practical  difficulty  of  introducing  the  sacred 
volume  to  any  considerable  extent  among  the  books 
studied  in  our  public  schools,  and  in  the  higher 
institutions  of  learning  under  the  control  of  the 
State,  is  perhaps  insurmountable — at  least  while  the 
present  low  views  as  to  the  functions  of  the  civil 
government  remain  unaltered.  But  this  defect 
exists  to  a lamentable  degree,  even  in  colleges 
founded  and  governed  by  Christian  men.  It  may 
indeed  be  affirmed,  that  among  all  the  books  now 
used  in  the  curriculum  of  most  colleges,  professedly 
Christian,  the  Bible  is  either  not  included  at  all,  or 
holds  a very  subordinate  position. 

Do  not  understand  me  as  under-estimating  the 
extent  or  value  of  the  religious  influences  which 
pervade  the  great  majority  of  our  colleges.  Founded 
mainly  by  Christian  men,  and  upon  Christian  prin- 
ciples, their  Professors  distinguished  no  less  for 
their  religious  character  than  for  profound  scholar- 
ship, our  colleges  have  been  very  generally  nurse- 
ries of  piety,  as  well  as  seminaries  of  learning.  No 
Institution  professedly  founded  upon  infidelity,  or 
even  ignoring  with  deliberate  purpose  our  common 
Christianity,  could  possibly  withstand  the  force  of 


✓ 


20 


public  opinion.  The  University  of  Virginia  is  a 
notable  instance  of  the  complete  failure  of  the  ex- 
periment, though  tried  under  the  most  favourable 
circumstances.  Nor  is  it  scarcely  necessary  to  repel 
the  calumny  so  often  brought  against  the  college, 
as  a place  of  unusual  danger  to  the  young.  It  is 
difficult  to  conceive  of  any  organized  community 
where  more  pains  are  taken  to  foster  all  good 
influences,  and  to  exclude  all  that  are  bad.  Indeed, 
this  very  exercise  of  college  discipline,  while  secur- 
ing such  desirable  results,  has  in  part  occasioned 
the  wide-spread  misapprehension  in  the  public  mind 
as  to  the  standard  of  morality  among  college  stu- 
dents. The  care  taken  to  arrest  certain  evils,  gives 
them  great  prominence  in  the  public  view;  and 
hence  those  sinful  excesses,  which  are  incident  to 
all  youth,  and  which  elsewhere  too  often  run  their 
course,  silently,  because  unchecked,  to  shame  and 
ruin,  are  considered  peculiar  to  the  college.  The 
most  experienced  educators  agree  upon  this  point. 
The  Rev.  Ur.  Moffat,  once  a Professor  in  this  Col- 
lege, and  subsequently  in  two  other  colleges  in 
widely  distant  parts  of  our  country,  declares: — 
“ I have  had  abundant  means  of  forming  an  unbiassed 
judgment,  and  I not  only  repel  the  charge,  but  also 
most  roundly  assert,  that  the  ranks  of  collegiate 
learning  are  less  contaminated  with  vice,  than  any 
other  ordinary  occupation  in  which  our  youth 


21 


engage.”*  Such  has  been  the  result  of  my  own 
observation,  though  of  course  less  extensive  than 
that  of  this  eminent  divine.  While  freely  admit- 
ting the  many  and  fearful  dangers  which  environ 
youth  here  as  elsewhere,  I do  not  hesitate  to  affirm, 
that  temptations  and  facilities  for  evil  are  fewer 
within  college  walls,  and  that  all  good  influences 
are  stronger,  than  those  which  surround  any  body 
of  young  men  congregated  together,  and  away  from 
the  wholesome  restraints  and  the  blessed  influences 
of  home. 

While  insisting  upon  this,  we  are  nevertheless 
forced  to  the  painful  admission  that  there  is  but 
very  . little  regular,  thorough  and  systematic  study  of 
the  word  of  God  in  most  of  our  colleges ; even  in 
those,  as  before  observed,  professedly  Christian. 
Many  good  men,  especially  during  the  last  few 
years,  have  publicly  deplored  this  evil.  Dr.  Cort- 
landt  Van  Rensselaer,  one  of  the  most  profound  ob- 
servers, and  at  the  same  time  one  of  the  most  earnest 
advocates  of  liberal  education,  declared  before  the 
Synod  of  Wheeling,  in  1854 : — “ The  Grecian  sophists 
depreciated  man’s  moral  nature  in  their  method  of 
instruction,  but  scarcely  more  so  than  the  liberal 
philosophers,  and  often  Christians , at  the  present  day. 
Religion  can  hardly  be  said  to  be  a branch  of  know- 
ledge in  many  of  the  institutions  of  the  country.  It 

* See,  also,  Professor  Tyler’s  Premium  Essay,  and  a most  admirable 
article  in  the  Princeton  Review,  for  1859,  by  Dr.  Atwater,  entitled,  “Reli- 
gion in  Colleges.” 


22 


is  taught  incidentally,  rather  than  authoritatively 
and  systematically.  It  is  sometimes  introduced  with 
a latent  purpose  to  save  appearances,  and  to  satisfy 
weak  suggestions  of  conscience;  and  too  frequently 
is  it  left  in  the  predicament  of  an  optional  study.” 
Dr.  Hodge,  of  Princeton,  in  a sermon  preached  before 
the  American  Sunday-school,  employs  even  stronger 
language.  “ Ever  since  the  revival  of  letters  we  have 
employed  in  the  early  stages  of  education,  heathen 
fables ; and  in  the  more  advanced  stages  heathen 
poets,  historians,  orators  and  moralists.  These  have 
been  and  still  are,  the  instruments  most  extensively 
employed  in  the  education  of  Christian  youth;  need 
we  wonder  at  the  result.  Notwithstanding  partial  ex- 
ceptions, it  is  certainly  true  that  the  Scriptures  have  been 
systematically  excluded  from  the  places  of  education , 
and  that  the  great  majority  of  Christian  youth  have 
been  brought  up  more  under  the  influence  of  heathen 
minds  and  models  than  under  the  inspired  minds  and 
models  of  the  word  of  God.”*  Similar  testimony 
might  be  cited  from  many  wise  and  judicious  men,')' 
nevertheless  the  evil  is  not  remedied.  There  have 

* This  sermon  was  republished  in  Calcutta.  We  can  imagine  the  sensa- 
tions of  an  intelligent  Brahmin  on  reading  it — especially  the  sentence  we 
have  italicised. 

f Not  merely  those  of  our  own  denomination.  A writer  in  the  Baptist 
Chronicle,  (August  4,  1864,)  giving  an  account  of  these  inauguration  ser- 
vices emphatically  endorses  these  statements.  I quote  only  one  sentence  : — 
“ The  writer  has  long  felt  this  flagrant  defect  in  our  course  of  college  studies, 
exalting  Jove,  and  Minerva,  and  Paganism,  and  subordinating  Christ  and 
Christianity,  and  he  prays  that  the  Lord  will  soon  constrain  his  servants, 
who  have  the  education  of  our  young  in  their  charge,  to  correct  it.” 


23 


indeed  been  sporadic  efforts,  but  many  of  these  have 
resulted  in  no  permanent  improvement,  while  in 
none  have  the  expectations  thus  excited  been  fully 
realized,  though  Christian  men  as  trustees,  and  pro- 
fessors, and  patrons  of  our  colleges,  have  the  matter 
in  their  own  hands. 

Indeed  there  are  eminent  divines,  even  in  our  own 
Church,  who  contend  that  from  the  very  nature  of 
the  college,  biblical  studies  are  inadmissible.  The  late 
president  of  South  Carolina  College*  did  not  hesitate 
to  characterize  all  such  education  as  of  necessity 
only  “ the  inculcation  of  sectarian  peculiarities,”  and 
as  utterly  unworthy  of  place  in  any  system  of  liberal 
culture.  “ Let  it  come,”  says  he,  “ in  the  character 
of  the  professors ; let  it  come  in  the  stated  worship 
of  the  sanctuary ; let  it  come  in  the  vindication  of 
those  immortal  records,  which  constitute  the  basis  of 
our  faith.”  All  other  religious  or  biblical  instruc- 
tion must  be  sought  at  “the  fireside  and  the  church, 
the  home  and  the  pulpit!”  That  is  to  say: — College 
students  may  attend  public  worship- as  other  people 
do,  and  even  a pittance  of  time  may  be  taken  from 
the  study  of  heathen  authors  and  the  sciences,  to  con- 
sider the  authenticity  and  inspiration  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, but  the  momentous  truths  they  contain, 
though  comprehending  the  necessary  elements  of 
liberal  culture,  must  not  be  the  subject  of  special 
attention ; and  this,  too,  during  the  very  period, 


* In  bis  letter  to  Governor  Manning  on  Public  Instruction,  1853. 


24 


when,  above  all  others,  the  habits  of  thinking  are 
formed  with  rapidity  for  life,  and  the  principles  of 
moral  character  are  shaping  themselves,  perhaps,  for 
all  eternity. 

This  certainly  was  not  the  view  taken  by  the 
pioneers  of  education  in  our  country,  and  especially 
those  of  our  own  Church.  In  1667  the  United 
Synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  constituting 
then  our  General  Assembly,  unanimously  resolved, 
“ That  special  care  be  taken  of  the  principles  and 
character  of  schoolmasters,  that  they  teach  the  West- 
minster Catechism  and  Psalmody,  and  that  the  min- 
ister, church  sessions,  and  the  aforesaid  committee — 
(where  they  consistently  can) — visit  the  schools,  and 
see  these  things  be  done;  and  where  schools  are 
composed  of  different  denominations,  that  said  com- 
mittees and  sessions  invite  proper  persons  of  said 
denominations  to  join  with  them  in  such  visitations.” 
This  plan  of  visitation  originated  with  the  elder- 
ship, who  were  no  less  zealous  than  the  clergy  in  the 
religious  instruction  of  those  in  a course  of  secular 
education,  and  we  are  told  that  the  above  recommen- 
dation was  not  only  repeatedly  urged  upon  the 
Churches  and  Presbyteries,  but  that  “year  after  year 
inquiry  was  made  how  far  the  business  had  been 
attended  to.”*  The  same  zeal  for  religious  instruc- 
tion was  manifested  at  Harvard  College.  In  the 
first  constitution,  (1642,)  it  was  enacted: — “That 

* Hodge’s  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  Part  II.  pp.  340,  341. 


25 


the  students  were  to  be  practised  twice  a day  in 
reading  the  Scriptures,  giving  an  account  of  their 
proficiency  and  experience  in  practical  and  spiritual 
truths,  accompanied  by  theoretical  observations  on 

the  language  and  logic  of  the  sacred  writers 

In  every  year  and  every  week  of  the  college  course, 
every  class  was  practised  in  the  Bible  and  catecheti- 
cal divinity.”*  Similar  provision  was  made  for  these 
studies  in  Yale.f  The  pious  founders  of  Prince- 
ton College  “sought  to  rear  an  institution  in  which 
should  be  taught  at  one  and  the  same  time,  the 
lessons  of  revealed  truth  and  the  elements  of  human 
knowledge.’’^ 

The  men  of  that  day  were  far  from  considering 
the  facts  and  doctrines  of  the  Bible  antagonistic  to 
all  liberal  studies,  or  that  teaching  the  truths  con- 
tained in  our  symbols  would  be  merely  the  use  less 
inculcation  of  “sectarian  peculiarities,”  tending  to 
dwarf  the  mind  and  to  engender  bigotry.  In  the 
famous  New  England  Primer,  room  was  made  for 
the  whole  of  the  Westminster  Catechism,  a com- 
pend  of  divine  truth,  which,  so  far  from  embracing 
only  sectarian  peculiarities,  at  first  united  all  the 
Churches  of  the  Reformation,  and  can  now,  with 
the  exception  of  one  or  two  questions,  be  subscribed 

* President  Quincy’s  History  of  Harvard  College.  Vol.  i.  pp.  190,  191. 

t All  the  original  trustees  of  Yale  College  were  clergymen.  It  was  at 
first  designed  that  the  institution  should  be  called  “The  School  of  the 
Church.” 

t Inaugural  address  of  Rev.  John  Maclean,  D.D. 


26 


to  by  all  evangelical  denominations.  In  like  man- 
ner were  the  text-books  for  the  higher  education 
largely  filled  with  Scripture  truths.  And  it  was  by 
such  thorough  biblical  instruction  in  schools  and 
colleges,  and  not  merely  by  the  indirect  influence 
of  the  “fireside  and  the  pulpit,”  that  our  fathers 
were  trained  in  those  Christian  principles  of  which 
they  were  not  ashamed,  and  which  they  were  not 
afraid  to  embody  in  those  earlier  constitutions  in 
which  the  national  life  took  shape.  With  the 
exception  of  Virginia,  whose  Constitution,  like  its 
University,  was  moulded  by  the  hand  of  Thomas 
Jefferson,  every  one  of  the  original  thirteen  States 
bore  decided  and  unequivocal  testimony  to  its  Chris- 
tian character,  by  recognizing  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  Christianity  in  the  constitution  and  laws 
framed  for  its  government.  In  most  of  them  the 
belief  in  the  divine  inspiration  of  the  Bible  was 
explicitly  avowed.  What  a contrast  do  these  earlier 
records  present  to  the  subsequent  revised  and  im- 
proved constitutions  of  the  several.  States!  It  would 
be  vain  to  search  in  the  present  Constitution  of  our 
own  State,  for  any  thing  to  remind  us  of  the  solemn 
declaration  required  by  the  Constitution  of  1776.  of 
every  member  of  the  Legislature,  viz.  “I  do  believe 
in  one  God,  the  Creator  and  Governor  of  the  Uni- 
verse, the  re  warder  of  the  just,  and  the  punisher  of 
the  wicked;  and  I do  acknowledge  the  Scriptures  of 
the  Old  and  New  Testaments  to  be  given  by  divine 


27 


inspiration.”  A distinguished  clergyman  of  our  own 
Church,  Rev.  Dr.  Mcllvaine,  said  to  one  of  the  leading 
members  of  the  recent  Convention  that  framed  the 
amended  Charter  for  the  State  of  New  York  : u You 
have  given  us  a constitution  for  the  government  of  a 
great  Christian  people,  which  covers  a vast  extent 
and  variety  of  topics,  and  yet  which  carries  out  one 
idea  with  such  perfectly  logical  vigor,  that  from  no 
single  wTord  or  form  of  expression  could  it  ever  be 
inferred  that  such  a fact  as  the  Christian  religion 
ever  existed.”  To  all  of  which  this  enlightened  law 
maker — 44  a liberal  supporter  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church” — replied:  “ How  well  you  have  understood 
it!  That  was  just  what  we  intended  to  do.”  Ex 
uno  disce  omnes! 

It  is  perfectly  obvious  that  the  American  people 
are  no  longer  impressed  with  the  importance  of 
recognizing,  as  a nation,  even  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  Christianity.  These  have  so  generally  dis- 
appeared from  the  National  Charter,  from  the  Con- 
stitutions of  the  several  States,  and  from  both  Na- 
tional and  State  deliverances,  that  we  are  not  so 
much  surprised  as  grieved  that  the  Supreme  Execu- 
tive of  the  land  should  officially  declare,  and  this  too 
as  a concession  to  Mahommedauism,  that,  • “ the 
Government  of  the  United  States  is  not,  in  any  sense , 
founded  upon  the  Christian  religion. Alas!  how 


* Treaty  with  Tripoli;  Laws  of  the  United  States,  published  under  the 
authority  of  Congress.  Vol.  I.  p.  2'JO. 


28 


is  the  gold  become  dim ! how  is  the  most  fine  gold 
changed!  And  what  has  caused  this  changed  Doubt- 
less a partial  explanation  may  be  found  in  the  uncon- 
querable aversion  of  our  people  to  the  enforced 
union  of  Church  and  State;  a union  fraught  with 
the  most  appalling  evils,  and  against  which  the  peo- 
ple of  God  have  been  the  foremost  to  protest,  and 
Presbyterians  primi  inter  primos .*  Yet  ought  this 
jealousy  of  Church  establishments  lead  us  to  tear 
down  the  altar  of  God,  the  very  altar  at  which  this 
nation,  in  its  infancy,  was  baptized]  Gentlemen, 
these  States  are,  and  of  right  ought  to  be,  not  only 
free  and  independent,  but  Christian!  and  this  dis- 
tinctive feature  should  be  impressed  most  plainly 
upon  their  organic  charters.  Daniel  Webster,  the 
great  expounder  of  what  constitutional  law  is,  and 
no  mean  judge  of  what  it  should  be,  uttered  the  fol- 
lowing noble  sentiment,  in  the  year  1820:  “I  am 
desirous,  that  in  so  solemn  a transaction  as  the  es- 
tablishment of  a Constitution,  we  should  express  our 
attachment  to  Christianity  ; not,  indeed,  to  any  of  its 
peculiar  forms,  but  to  its  general  principles.”  It  is 
not  only  a solemn  truth  that  government  is  ordained 
by  God,  and  that  only  those  who  honor  Him,  will 

* In  1777,  while  in  the  very  throes  of  the  Revolutionary  war,  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Hanover  addressed  a memorial  to  the  Legislature  of  Va.,  on  the 
subject  of  " liberty  in  the  concerns  of  religion.”  State  establishments  are 
denounced  “ as  a restraint  upon  freedom  of  inquiry'and  private  judgment 
and  after  fully  arguing  the  question,  the  memorial  says:  "Therefore,  we 
ask  no  ecclesiastical  establishment  for  ourselves,  neither  can  we  approve  of 
them  when  granted  to  others.” 


29 


He  honor ; * it  is  equally  true,  that  the  organic  life 
of  this  nation  springs  from  Christianity.  No  people 
can  exist  without  a definite  religious  character,  and 
we  have  a national  conscience  to  exonerate,  by  pro- 
claiming that  our  Government  is  not  Pagan,  or  In- 
fidel, or  Mohammedan,  but  Christian.  We  have 
too  long  presented  to  the  world  the  humiliating 
spectacle  of  an  infidel  aggregate  of  Christian  men ; 
and  were  these  millions  of  nominal  Christians  tho- 
roughly trained  in  Bible  truth,  they  would  not  have 
become  so  tender  of  the  consciences  of  a few  infidels 
or  errorists,  as  to  be  unmindful  of  their  own.  No 
clamor  about  church  establishments,  or  Erastianism, 
or  liberty  of  worship,  which  are  all  false  issues  in  the 
case,  could  drive  them  from  the  public  altars,  where 


* Our  National  Constitution  is,  perhaps,  the  only  one  in  Christendom 
that  does  not,  in  some  manner,  recognize  the  existence  of  God : and  now  to 
maintain  its  supremacy  throughout  our  land,  what  a frightful  amount  of 
blood  and  treasure  is  daily  expended!  The  same  unenviable  distinction 
has  been  conferred  upon  our  coins.  “A  sort  of  universal  instinct,  (says  Dr. 
Boardman,)  has  consecrated  the  coinage  of  the  world  to  religion.”  This 
Christian  people  alone  refuses  to  impress  upon  its  coins  even  the  name  of 
Him  who  has  declared  “the  silver  and  the  gold  is  mine.”  And  we  do  not 
know  of  any  other  currency  so  subject  to  sudden  paralysis:  as  if  our 
godless  coins  were  periodically  struck  with  conscious  shame,  and  precipi- 
tately withdrew  themselves  from  public  observation.  We  rejoice  to  know 
that  these  two  subjects  are  now  occupying  the  attention  of  our  people.  An 
extended  movement  is  on  foot  to  introduce  into  our  national  compact  the 
name  of  the  Deity  whom  the  whole  country  worships:  and  upon  some  of 
the  recent  issues  from  the  U.  S.  Mint,  we  gratefully  read  the  solemn  words, 
“In  God  we  trust.”  For  this,  we  are  indebted  mainly  to  the  eminent 
Christian  statesman,  now  Director  of  the  Mint,  and  who,  as  President  of 
the  Board  of  Trustees,  presided  at  the  ceremonies  of  this  Inauguration. 


30 


our  fathers  sent  up  their  grateful  cry  to  heaven: 
44  By  Thee  only , will  we  make  mention  of  Thy 
name  /” 

But  this,  we  apprehend,  is  the  main  cause  of  our 
national  defection.  The  Bible  ceased  to  be  the 
chief  corner-stone  in  our  educational  policy,*  and 
Christianity  ceased  to  give  character  to  the  national 
life.  That  the  sacred  volume  disappeared  entirely 
from  the  curriculum  of  college  studies — however  it 
retained  its  place  in  the  college  pulpit — is  scarcely 
a matter  of  conjecture.  That  distinguished  scholar 
and  statesman,  Samuel  L.  Southard,  said  in  an 
address  at  Princeton: — “The  College  of  New  Jersey 
was  the  first,  so  far  as  I am  informed,  into  which 
the  study  of  the  Bible,  as  a college  exercise,  was 

introduced.  A few  years  after  I was  graduated 

I believe  about  the  year  1813 — the  now  aged  and 
most  venerable  minister  of  the  gospel,  Bev.  Ashbel 
Green,  a few  months  after  he  became  the  President, 
adopted  the  plan  of  recitations  on  the  Bible,  on  the 
Sabbath  afternoon.”  And  at  the  Centennial  celebra- 
tion of  the  College,  in  1846,  the  Bev.  Dr.  Samuel 
Miller  proposed  the  following  sentiment— 44  The 
venerable  Ashbel  Green,  D.  D.,  LL.D.,  our  venerated 
eighth  President — we  honour  him  as  the  first  head 
of  a College  in  the  United  States,  who  introduced 

* The  report  of  the  Board  of  Education,  for  1850,  contains  the  following 
significant  sentence: — “The  General  Assembly  has  resolved,  in  the  fear  of 
God,  to  re-introduce  divine  truth  into  its  institutions  of  learning  as  far  as  it 
may  be  practicable.” 


31 


the  study  of  the  Bible  as  a regular  part  of  the  colle- 
giate course.” 

These  distinguished  gentlemen  should  have  said 
restored , instead  of  introduced;  and  it  is  another 
honor  for  grand  old  Nassau,  the  fruitful  mother  of 
Presbyterian  Colleges,  that  her  hand  should  be  the 
first  to  wipe  the  accumulated  dust  of  years  from  the 
sacred  volume.  But  yet  these  statements,  in  one 
sense  honorable  to  her,  cast  shame  alike  upon  all. 
Well  might  we  be  startled  at  the  grave  announce- 
ment, that,  in  this  Christian  land,  the  study  of 
God’s  revealed  will  to  man  was  first  introduced  “as 
a regular  part  of  the  collegiate  course”  of  Christian 
Colleges,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1813!  Nor  can 
we  affirm  that  even  Dr.  Green  demanded  for  the 
Bible  the  prominent  position  formerly  accorded  to 
it  among  educational  books,  and  which  it  both  merits 
and  claims.  “ It  is  a fact,”  says  he,*  “equally  noto- 
rious and  shameful,  that  men  of  liberal  education 
are  sometimes  more  ignorant  of  the  Bible  than  of 
almost  any  other  book  of  reputation.”  And  yet  he 
adds — “ If  those  parts  of  the  Sabbath  which  are  not 
occupied  with  public  worship,  and  other  exercises 
proper  to  the  sacred  day  of  rest,  should  be  employed 
in  the  study  of  the  sacred  writings,  it  would  be 
amply  sufficient.”  Is  then  the  toil  of  the  week  to 
be  given  to  Livy  and  Plato,  and  only  the  repose  of 

* “On  Evangelizing  a Course  of  Liberal  Education/’  published  in 
1822. 


32 


the  Sabbath  to  Moses  and  Paul,  to  say  nothing  of 
the  great  Teacher,  who  spoke  as  never  man  spoke  ? 
Nor  has  much  more  of  the  lost  ground  been  re- 
covered since  his  day,  if  we  may  judge  from  a state- 
ment of  Dr.  Baird,  in  the  latest  edition  of  his 
“Religion  in  America,”  published  only  eight  years 
ago: — “It  is  a cause  of  gratitude  to  God,  that  in 
many  of  our  Colleges  the  Bible  is  studied  by  the 
students  every  Sabbath,  under  the  guidance  of  their 
teachers.”*  And  is  this  all,  my  Christian  auditors  ? 
— all  the  time  and  attention  that  is  to  be  given  to 
the  word  of  God,  by  those  professedly  engaged  in  a 
course  of  liberal  studies'?  What  heathen  nation, 
ancient  or  modern,  has  been  satisfied  with  such  a 
modicum  of  its  religion  embraced  among  the  studies 
of  its  youth'?  “From  the  beginning  of  time  till  a 
period  very  near  to  us,”  says  Dr.  R.  J.  Breckin- 
ridge,')' “ and  amongst  the  entire  race  of  man,  except 
only  reformed  Christians  of  these  latter  days,  the 
general  principle  remotely  occupying  the  base  of 
this  subject  has  been  cordially  and  universally  re- 
ceived and  acted  on  as  of  paramount  importance. 
Every  people,  without  exception,  has  thought  it 
necessary  to  teach  its  religion  to  its  children,  as  the 
very  basis  of  all  other  knowledge;  and  every  nation 
that  has  been  sufficiently  advanced  to  have  a written 

* Book  III.,  Chapter  xiii. 

f Speech  before  the  Maryland  Bible  Society,  (1839,)  published  in  the 
Baltimore  Literary  and  Religious  Magazine. 


33 


religion,  and  places  for  the  regular  instruction  of 
youth  in  knowledge,  has  made  the  national  religion 
a national  study  in  childhood.  The  sacred  books  of 
all  heathen  nations  have  been  known  of  all  who 
knew  anything  whatever.” 

But  examine  now  our  College  catalogues,  and  see 
how  far  the  national  religion  of  this  Christian  coun- 
try is  made  “the  very  basis  of  all  other  knowledge,” 
and  what  provision  is  made  for  the  thorough  and 
systematic  study  of  its  “sacred  books.”  From  the 
catalogues  upon  my  table  for  the  current  year,  I 
select  one,  almost  at  random,  presenting  fully  and 
minutely  the  course  of  study  in  one  of  the  oldest 
and  most  influential  Colleges  of  our  land.  In  all 
the  departments  of  secular  learning,  it  is  an  honor 
to  any  age  and  country.  Its  Trustees  and  Profes- 
sors are  not  only  Christians  in  the  general  sense  of 
the  word,  but  evangelical.  Some  of  them  are  the 
ordained  expounders  of  God’s  word.  Its  Calendar 
refers  to  Thanksgiving-Day,  Christmas,  and  Good- 
Friday.  Yet,  so  far  as  the  published  course  of  in- 
struction shows,  this  College  is  almost  as  oblivious 
of  the  fact  that  Christianity  exists,  as  is  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  State  of  New  York.  Among  the 
eighty  books  named  in  the  “Department  of  Instruc- 
tion,” for  special  study  or  general  reference,  neither 
the  Bible,  nor  any  part  of  it,  is  so  much  as  named. 
One  hour  in  each  week  of  the  first  session  of  the 
senior  year  “is  devoted  to  Natural  Theology,  so  far 
3 


34 


as  arrived  at  by  unaided  reason;”  and  which  might, 
therefore,  have  been  as  well  taught  by  Plato,  Aris- 
totle, and  Cicero— whose  books  are,  indeed,  the  very 
ones  cited  for  reference.  The  same  amount  of  time 
per  week,  in  the  second  session,  “is  devoted  to  the 
Evidences  of  Revelation,  both  Philosophic  and  His- 
torical;” and  this  last  exercise,  scarcely  embracing 
a dozen  lectures,  is  all  that  brings  the  youthful  stu- 
dent, during  his  four  years’  course  of  liberal  studies, 
in  contact  with  the  grand  themes  of  Christianity! 
The  Bible  itself,  its  antiquities,  history,  and  doc- 
trines, receive  no  attention  whatever.  Must  we 
give  to  such  a course  of  study,  in  a Christian  land, 
the  comprehensive  and  solemn  term  Education] 
Alas!  what  a short  step  have  such  colleges  taken 
in  advance  of  the  Academia,  the  Stoa,  the  Peripatos ! 
Indeed  the  comparison  is  unjust  to  those  schools  of 
Pagan  instruction.  Cicero  mentions,  as  first  in  the 
order  of  time  and  importance,  the  studies  de  diis  im- 
mortalibus;  and  among  the  ancients,  Theologia  was 
everywhere  regarded  as  the prima  Philosophia.  Look, 
too,  at  the  heathen  nations  of  our  own  day.  The  sacred 
writings  of  the  Hindoo,  the  Mohammedan,  and  the 
Chinese,  are  their  only  educational  books,  although 
their  literature  is  both  varied  and  extensive.  From 
this  fact  alone,  we  can  form  some  conception  of  a 
Pagan’s  attachment  to  his  sacred  symbols,  and  are 
not  at  a loss  to  understand  why  he  clings  with  such 
tenacity  to  his  religion.  But,  gentlemen,  we  have 


35 


better  Oracles.  Is  not  the  gleaning  of  the  grapes  of 
Ephraim  better  than  the  vintage  of  Abiezer!  The 
law  of  the  Lord  is  perfect.  Time  would  fail 
me,  nor  indeed  is  it  necessary  in  this  presence,  to 
show  the  superiority  of  the  Bible  to  the  Koran,  the 
Shasters,  and  the  writings  of  Confucius,  even  in  a 
literary  point  of  view,  and  as  a mere  educational 
book.  But  I cannot  forbear  repeating  in  this  con- 
nection, the  well-known  declaration  of  one  of  the 
most  learned  men,  especially  in  all  liberal  studies, 
that  the  world  has  ever  seen:  “I  have  regularly  and 
systematically  read  the  Holy  Scriptures,”  says  Sir 
William  Jones,  “ and  am  of  the  opinion  that  this 
volume,  independently  of  its  divine  origin,  contains 
more  sublimity  and  beauty,  more  pure  morality, 
more  important  history,  and  finer  strains  of  poetry 
and  eloquence,  than  can  be  collected  from  all  other 
works,  in  whatever  language  or  age  they  may  have 
been  composed.”*  Yet  this  volume  is  scarcely  thought 

* Without  multiplying  similar  testimony,  I cannot  resist  adding  the  elo- 
quent words  of  one  who  was  formerly  a student  in  this  College,  the  Rev.  J. 
H.  Mcllvaine,  D.  D.,  of  Princeton.  Speaking  of  those  in  process  of  educa- 
tion, he  says:  “To  acquaint  them  with  all  things  most  necessary  to  be 
known,  both  for  this  world  and  that  which  is  to  come;  to  accomplish  them 
in  the  most  profound,  abstruse,  and  infallibly  correct  processes  and 
methods  of  reasoning;  to  imbue  them  with  the  knowledge  of  history,  elo- 
quence, poetry ; to  quicken  their  perceptions  of  the  true,  the  beautiful,  and 
the  good;  to  inform  them  with  sound  principles  of  right  and  justice*;  to 
purify  their  affections,  and  fix  them  upon  the  most  exalted  objects — in  fine, 
to  ennoble,  transfigure,  and  glorify  their  whole  humanity — to  accomplish 
these  sublime  objects,  the  Holy  Scripture  alone  is  adequate,  and  indispen- 
sable, throughout  the  whole  course,  as  matter  of  instruction  and  principle 
of  education.” 


36 


worthy  of  even  a subordinate  place  among  our  edu- 
cational books.  Banished  from  the  College  to  the 
Sabbath-school  or  to  the  Theological  Seminary,  it  is 
no  wonder  that  young  men  regard  the  Bible,  either 
as  a book  for  children,  or,  like  Galen  in  medicine, 
and  Blackstone  in  law,  a mere  text  book  in  theology, 
the  special  study  for  a professional  life,  having  no 
claims  upon  the  time  or  thoughts  of  those  who  are  in 
a course  of  liberal  education. 

It  is  against  this  evil  we  would  formally  and  earn- 
estly protest.  We  strenuously  insist  upon  a perma- 
nent occupation  of  all  the  ground  won  for  the  cause 
of  higher  education.  We  admit  that  the  studies 
generally  pursued  in  our  colleges  are  admirably 
adapted  for  liberal  culture,  and  we  recognize  the 
eminent  worth  of  the  various  text  books  employed  in 
the  different  departments  of  instruction,  but  it  is  with 
grief  and  shame,  not  unmingled  with  indignation, 
that  we  see  the  Book  of  books  excluded  by  Christian 
men,  wholly  or  mainly,  from  the  college  curriculum, 
as  though,  instead  of  being  “ alone  adequate  and 
indispensable  throughout  the  whole  course,”  it  really 
contained  no  “ matter  of  instruction,  or  principle  of 
education”  for  any  part  of  it.  Whatever  may  be 
the  value  of  other  books,  we  contend  that  the  Bible 
surpasses  them  all,  and  that  the  course  of  study,  in 
every  Christian  College,  should  be  so  arranged,  that, 
while  its  general  contents  should  engage  the  atten- 
tion of  all  candidates  for  the  first  degree,  certain 


37 


portions  of  it,  in  the  original  tongues,  should  be 
studied  with  at  least  as  much  thoroughness  as  is 
given  to  any  classic  writer,  and  that  this  special 
study  of  the  Book  should  be,  in  addition  to  such 
collateral  instruction  as  may  be  given  in  the  other 
departments — especially  Mental  and  Political  Philo- 
sophy, Ethics,  Archaeology,  and  History. 

As  a step  in  this  direction,  the  Faculty  of  Lafay- 
ette College,  in  May  last,  adopted  the  following 
minute: 

Biblical  Instruction. 

“The  New  Testament  is  used  as  a text-book  for 
the  regular  daily  recitations  in  Greek,  during  two 
terms  of  the  college  course.  The  Gospel,  according 
to  Mark,  is  the  study  of  one  term,  and  a Greek 
Harmony  of  all  the  Evangelists,  of  a second  term. 
The  life  and  words  of  Christ  are  thus  made  the  centre 
of  Biblical  study. 

On  Monday  morning,  throughout  the  year,  each 
of  the  classes  has  a Biblical  exercise.  It  always 
begins  with  repeating  the  Assembly’s  Catechism,  or 
some  part  thereof.  In  the  Freshman  year,  a general 
view  of  the  contents  of  the  Bible,  and  of  each  book, 
is  given,  with  special  attention  to  Chronology,  ITis- 
tory  and  Geography.  The  Bible  in  English,  and 
Coleman’s  Geography  of  the  Bible,  are  used  as  text- 
books. In  the  Sophomore  year,  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles  are  read  in  the  original  Greek,  and  special 
study  given  to  the  lives  and  labors  of  the  Apostles, 


38 


and  to  the  origin  and  antiquities  of  the  Christian 
church.  In  the  Junior  year,  the  Epistle  to  the 
Romans  is  studied,  both  as  to  language  and  doctrine, 
with  much  care  and  iteration.  In  this  year  also,  a 
daily  recitation,  for  one  term,  is  devoted  to  the 
critical  study  of  the  language  of  the  Gospels ; both 
the  original  Greek,  and  the  English  of  our  standard 
version.  In  the  Senior  year,  are  studied  the  Old 
Testament,  in  the  original  Hebrew,  (an  elective 
study,)  the  history  of  translations  of  the  Bible, 
especially  the  history  of  the  English  Bible,  its  merits 
and  influence ; the  evidences  of  Christianity,  with 
Butler’s  Analogy,  and  the  Confession  of  Faith. 

Throughout  the  course,  the  language  of  the  Eng- 
lish version  is  constantly  examined,  and  referred  to, 
as  standard  English.  In  political  philosophy,  refer- 
ence is  made  to  the  Hebrew  Commonwealth.  The 
truths  taught  in  the  Bible  in  relation  to  the  char- 
acter, powers  and  duties  of  man,  are  inculcated  as 
fundamental  in  mental  and  moral  philosophy,  and 
the  Philosophy  of  History  is  identified  with  the 
History  of  Redemption. 

It  is  designed  to  make  the  Bible  the  central  object 
of  study  in  the  whole  college  course.” 

To  such  an  extended  course  of  Biblical  Instruction 
in  our  Colleges,  certain  objections,  or  rather  diffi- 
culties, may  arise  in  the  minds  of  those  who  sin- 
cerely love  God’s  word.  It  may  be  thought  that  by 


39 


the  enforced  labor  and  toil  which  such  studies 
demand,  the  Bible  will  become  an  object  of  disgust 
and  hatred,  or  at  least  by  degrading  the  sacred 
volume  to  the  level  of  other  educational  books,  the 
student  will  lose  that  peculiar  reverence  with  which 
it  should  always  be  regarded.  Whatever  force  there 
may  be  in  this  objection,  does  not  the  exclusion  of 
the  Bible  degrade  it  far  more  than  would  its  intro- 
duction, even  upon  a level  with  heathen  authors'? 
But  we  demand  for  it  a place,  high  above  them  all ; 
a reverent  and  deferential  acknowledgment  of  its 
superiority,  that  will  leave  upon  the  youthful  mind 
an  abiding  impression  of  its  lofty  and  unrivalled 
claims.  And  does  the  Pagan  or  the  Mohammedan, 
lose  respect  for  his  sacred  books,  from  too  great 
familiarity  with  them'?  Or  are  they  hated,  even 
though  exclusively  associated  with  long  years  of 
laborious  study'?  Far  from  it.  In  this,  as  well  as 
in  every  other  department  of  instruction,  much  wdll 
depend  upon  the  teacher,  upon  his  own  love  for  the 
sacred  volume,  and  his  skill  in  throwing  interest 
around  such  studies.  But  we  are  not  ignorant  of  the 
promises,  and  we  believe  that  the  careful,  thorough 
and  laborious  study  of  the  Scriptures,  even  in  the 
orginal  language,  tends  to  clevelope  its  power,  to 
enlighten  the  understanding,  to  rejoice  the  heart,  and 
to  convert  the  soul.# 


* On  this  point  (and,  indeed,  with  general  reference  to  the  whole  Biblical 
course,)  we  give  some  extracts  from  the  report  of  the  Synod’s  Committee  of 


40 


It  may  be  said  that  the  peculiar  difficulties  of 
Christianity  will  of  necessity  be  thus  made  promi- 
nent, to  the  danger  of  implanting  skepticism  in  the 

Visitors,  who  attended  the  last  examinations.  This  report,  published  by 
order  of  Synod,  came  to  hand  as  these  pages  were  going  through  the  press. 

"But  the  thorough  teaching  of  the  Scriptures  which  has  been  in- 
augurated in  the  College,  is  that  which  excited  the  most  interest,  and  which 
ought  to  awaken  the  earnest  attention  of  Synod.  The  Bible  is  installed  as 
the  most  important  class-book  of  the  institution.  This  is  a new  and  very 
important,  and  very  promising  improvement  in  collegiate  instruction. 
And  to  one  who  sees  how  the  word  of  God  is  studied  in  Lafayette  College, 
how  it  is  made  to  train  and  enlarge  the  mind,  as  well  as  to  fill  it  with  a 
vast  fund  of  the  most  important  knowledge,  it  will  not  appear  as  derogating 
from  the  liberal  nature  of  the  studies  appropriate  for  such  an  institution. 
It  will  rather  appear  as  a very  important  addition  to  them. 

"The  Greek  of  the  New  Testament  is  studied  just  as  any  classical  book 
usually  is.  Then  the  peculiarities  of  the  language  in  that  sacred  book  are 
also  investigated,  the  words  being  traced  to  their  original  fountain,  and  fol- 
lowed out  from  that  to  all  their  different  shades  of  meaning.  Some  of  the 
most  important  Epistles  are  also  studied  exegetically.  The  meaning  of  the 
writer  is  investigated  from  the  peculiarity  of  his  language,  from  his  con- 
necting words,  and  from  the  whole  context.  Thus  there  is,  first,  the  trans- 
lation; then  a more  thorough  study  of  the  import  of  the  language;  and  then 
the  full  and  exact  meaning  of  the  author  is  sought  after. 

"But  even  this  is  not  all  the  study  that  the  sacred  Scriptures  receive  in 
the  various  classes.  The  manners  and  customs  of  the  times  in  which  the 
Bible  was  written,  the  geography  of  the  places  mentioned  therein,  and  the 
chronology  of  the  times  in  which  the  events  occurred,  are  made  so  new  and 
so  familiar  as  to  surprise  and  delight  one  to  whom  the  Bible  is  precious. 
The  complicated  and  difficult  study  of  the  harmony  of  the  four  Evangelists 
had  been  so  pursued  as  to  give  it  a lively  interest.  The  analysis  of  some  of 
the  books,  such  as  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  was  brought  out  so  clearly  and 
in  such  a striking  manner  as  to  clothe  it  with  new  life  and  interest.  In 
fact,  the  whole  of  this  examination  of  the  studies  of  the  Scriptures  was  such 
as  would  awaken  an  exceedingly  great  interest  in  the  College  in  every 
Christian  breast;  the  word  of  God  must  be  exalted  in  the  minds  of  those' 
who  are  so  thoroughly  trained  in  it;  its  great  principles  must  be  fixed  there 
so  as  never  to  be  forgotten.  And  this  is  the  very  training,  which,  of  all 
others,  educated  young  men  need  in  this  infidel  age. 

"It  is  no  time  now  for  the  friends  of  God  to  divorce  learning  from 


41 


youthful  mind.  This  proves  too  much.  There  is  no 
branch  of  biblical  study  more  open  to  this  objection 
than  the  evidences  of  revealed  religion,  and  the  very 
lowest  ground  taken  upon  this  subject,  insists  upon 
“ the  vindication  of  those  immortal  records.”  But  it 
must  not  be  forgotten  that  these  difficulties  are  to  be 
met  sometime  in  the  life  of  every  thinking  man, 
and,  perhaps,  when  there  may  be  no  skilful  instructor 
to  afford  the  antidote  to  the  bane.  Have  we  not 
seen  in  this  generation  a prelate’s  armor  worn  so 
loosely  that  the  shaft  from  a Zulu  objector  smote 
through  into  a vital  parti  The  period  of  youth  is 
pre-eminently  one  of  confiding  trust,  and  the  acknow- 
ledged difficulties  of  Scripture  are  more  likely  then, 
than  at  any  other  time,  to  be  put  among  these  pro- 
blems, for  the  solution  of  which,  faith,  with  folded 
arms,  must  patiently  stand  and  wait. 

Nor  is  it  to  be  feared  that  any  course  of  biblical 
studies,  likely  to  be  introduced  into  our  colleges,  will 

religion.  It  is  just  here  that  the  enemy  is  attempting  his  most  destructive 
work.  If  our  educated  young  men  are  not  trained  and  grounded  in  divine 
truth,  as  their  minds  are  cultivated  by  regular  studies,  then  woe  to  the 
Church,  woe  to  the  world.  There  is  probably  not  another  point  that  coukl 
be  brought  before  the  people  of  God,  so  important  as  this.  It  is  vital.  It  is 
one -of  tremendous  moment,  both  to  ourselves  and  to  the  generations  that 
are  to  follow  us. 

“ It  is  in  point  here  to  notice  another  thing  in  the  examinations  that  was 
highly  gratifying.  It  was  the  diligent  study  of  the  Catechism,  to  which  the 
classes  had  been  subjected.  As  the  students  were  seated  in  their  classes, 
the  first  one  would  ask  the  first  question  of  the  Catechism,  and  be  answered 
by  the  one  next  him.  Then  the  third  student  would  ask  the  next  question, 
and  the  fourth  would  answer  it, ,and  so  on  throughout  the  whole  class;  and 
all  this  without  any  book  in  the  hand.  That  is  the  way  to  become  thoroughly 
grounded  in  this  wonderful  and  most  invaluable  compend  of  divine  truth.” 


42 


anticipate  the  work  of  the  Theological  Seminary, 
and  thus  by  transferring  the  college  to  the  domain  of 
the  university,  place  its  instruction  at  variance  with 
the  essential  idea  of  liberal  culture.  Of  course  such 
special  or  professional  studies  as  Homiletics,  Pas- 
toral Theology,  &c.,  would  never  be  introduced. 
Under  the  most  favorable  circumstances  there  could 
be  given  only  such  general  instruction  in  the  great 
truths  of  God’s  word,  its  history,  antiquities,  &c.,  as 
would  be  a desirable  preparation  for  a regular  theolo- 
gical course,  while  it  would  be  especially  valuable 
for  those  whose  business  or  professional  pursuits  in 
after  life  would  tend  to  withdraw;  their  attention 
from  such  studies.  And  we  insist  upon  it,  that  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  the  Christian  Scriptures  is 
essential  to  every  liberally  educated  man.  It  is  of 
more  importance  even  to  the  general  student,  to  know 
what  Paul  taught  than  what  Plato  taught.  Hr. 
Arnold,  facile  princeps  among  educators,  quotes  with 
approbation  the  sentiment: — “ That  a liberal  educa- 
tion without  the  Scriptures  must  be  in  any  Christian 
country  a contradiction  in  terms and  again, 
“Christianity  has  so  colored  all  our  institutions,  and 
all  our  literature,  and  has,  in  so  many  points,  modi- 
fied or  even  dictated  our  laws,  that  no  one  can  be 
considered  an  educated  man  who  is  not  acquainted 
with  its  authoritative  documents.”*  Granted  that 

» It  is  well  known  that  Dr.  Arnold  resigned  his  Fellowship  in  the 
University  of  London  because  no  examination  in  the  Bible  was  required  ot 
candidates  for  graduation.  See  hit  Life  by  Stanley,  chap.  viii. 


43 


the  college  course  is  already  overcrowded.  This  has 
always  been  the  case,  and  yet  room  has  been  made, 
from  time  to  time,  for  such  new  branches  of  study  as 
have  arisen  in  the  progress  of  science.  Geology  and 
comparative  Philology  are  among  those  but  recently 
introduced ; and  we  claim  for  Lafayette  College  the 
honor  of  having  first  established,  in  this  country,  a 
distinct  professorship  for  the  philological  study  of 
the  English  language.*'  Now  all  these  studies  have 
been  found  no  less  adapted  for  liberal  culture  than 
those  which,  to  some  extent,  they  displaced.  So  if 
the  word  of  God  has  not  its  due  place  upon  the 
present  list  of  studies,  let  there  be  room  made  for  it, 
even  though  it  crowd  out  a satire  of  Juvenal,  or  a 
comedy  of  Aristophanes.  Apart  from  its  glorious 
revelations  of  spiritual  truth,  which  can  alone  purify 
the  affections,  it  will  be  found  to  exceed  all  other 
books  in  expanding  the  intellect. 

* This  has  been  gracefully  referred  to  by  Dr.  Wood,  President  of  Han- 
over College,  in  his  very  able  inaugural  address,  on  the  true  ends  and  pro- 
visions of  collegiate  education.  “It  has  been  claimed  for  Lafayette  College, 
and  with  apparent  justice,  that  that  institution  has  the  honor  of  being  the 
first  American  College  which  has  established  a professorship  of  the  English 
language.  This  example  is  worthy  of  imitation  by  other  colleges.”  We 
confess  to  some  degree  of  satisfaction  in  this  distinction ; but  to  Hanover 
College  must  be  referred  the  greater  honor  of  having  been  the  first,  at 
least  in  modern  times,  “to  order  that  the  Bible,  in  some  form  or  other,  shall 
be  made  a text  book  for  daily  study  and  recitation.”  Dr.  Thomas,  who  makes 
this  statement  in  his  inaugural,  (1850,)  says  tp  the  Trustees,  “it  is  a singu- 
lar and  almost  unaccountable  fact,  that  in  adopting  such  a course  you  are 
venturing  an  experiment  perhaps  unprecedented  in  the  history  of  American 
colleges.”  We  are  pleased  to  notice  in  the  last  annual  catalogue  of  this 
College,  (which  is  under  Synodical  control)  that  large  provision  is  still 
made  for  Biblical  instruction.  This  is  claimed  as  “a  characteristic  feature 
of  our  course  of  study.” 


44 


Certainly,  gentlemen  of  the  Board  of  Trustees, 
selected  for  your  responsible  duties  by  the  venerable 
and  mother  Synod  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  it  is 
incumbent  upon  you  to  see,  that  in  this  College, 
ample  provision  is  made  for  the  study  of  God’s  word 
and  of  Christian  doctrine. 

“It  is  one  of  the  felicities  of  our  Church,”  says 
Dr.  Shedd,  “that  it  has  so  many  Academies  and 
Colleges  under  its  Presbyterial  watch  and  care ; 
for  these  Institutions  are  thereby  brought  into  very 
warm  and  living  contact  with  the  individual  Chris- 
tian, and  the  local  church.  Not  being  under  the 
control  of  close  corporations,  who  may  appoint  their 
own  successors,  and  whose  management  of  the  Insti- 
tution is  entirely  beyond  the  supervision  of  the 
churches  that  are  to  feel  their  influence,  whether 
good  or  bad;  but  being  subject,  in  every  respect,  to 
the  religious  bodies  that  appoint  their  boards  of 
management,  and  thereby  their  corps  of  instruction, 
they  stand  in  the  most  immediate  and  salutary  con- 
nection with  the  Christian  brotherhood  itself,  and 
the  warm  evangelical  life  of  the  people  of  God  is 
transmitted  through  all  their  veins  and  arteries. 
Such  institutions  are  eminently  Christian,  and  re- 
spond most  sensitively  to  all  that  is  going  on  in  the 
Churches  that  support  them  and  control  them” 

This  College  was  among  the  first  in  our  Church  for- 
mally taken  under  ecclesiastical  supervision.  Fifteen 
years  ago  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  while  regarding, 


45 


as  they  said,  “with  pleasure  the  efforts  of  other  de- 
nominations to  promote  sound  learning  and  Chris- 
tian education,”  received  this  Institution  under  its 
“ Presbyterial  watch  and  care.”  The  narrative  of 
religion  for  the  year  following  (1850),  dwells  grate- 
fully upon  the  fact,  that  here  “ the  children  of  our 
denomination  will  be  taught  the  principles  of  our 
holy  religion,  as  contained  in  the  symbols  of  our 
faith.”  The  Synod  still  requires  that  these  expec- 
tations be  realized,  and,  were  we  disposed  to  resist, 
it  has  the  power,  by  the  amended  charter,  to  make 
us  “respond  most  sensitively”  to  these  demands,  as 
reasonable  as  they  are  imperative.  Year  after  year 
it  sends  its  committees  of  visitors  to  attend  our 
examinations,  and  report  to  the  Synod  whether 
“ these  things  be  done.” 

Upon  this  subject  of  ecclesiastical  supervision  of 
our  institutions  of  learning,  there  has  been  much 
discussion.  All  admit  the  right  and  duty  of  the 
Church  to  provide  the  means  of  Christian  education; 
but  good  men  differ  as  to  the  best  mode  of  accom- 
plishing so  desirable  an  object.  If  it  be  left  to  the 
indirect  influence  of  the  Church,  and  the  personal 
efforts  of  her  ministers  and  members  as  individuals, 
some  will  point  to  Princeton  College — that  venera- 
ble and  massive  tower  of  religion  and  learning — as 
proof  of  the  complete  success  of  the  plan;  while,  as 
a signal  illustration  of  its  failure,  others  point  to 
Harvard,  a College  whose  foundations  were  laid  in 


46 


prayer,  and  whose  patrons,  and  officers,  and  munifi- 
cent benefactors,  were  orthodox  and  evangelical 
men,  but  from  whose  halls  the  glory  has  long  since 
departed.  Eminent  it  certainly  is  in  every  branch 
of  secular  learning,  but  it  seems  like  solemn  mockery 
for  the  corporation  to  retain  upon  its  seal  those 
sacred  words,  “ Christo  et  ecclesixs .” 

It  is,  perhaps,  generally  conceded,  that  in  smaller 
Institutions  there  is  more  danger  of  serious  defec- 
tion on  the  part  of  close  corporations,  whatever  may 
have  been  the  public  sentiment  which  led  to  their 
foundation,  or  which  may  even  be  supposed  still 
to  exert  an  indirect  influence  over  the  board  of 
management.  “An  academy,  not  far  from  my  own 
residence,”  says  Dr.  Van  Rensselaer,  in  his  address 
at  Geneseo,  in  1853,  “originally  established  by 
Presbyterians,  and  committed  to  a board  of  trustees, 
almost  all  of  whom  were  of  the  same  faith,  relapsed, 
by  degrees,  into  different  hands,  until  in  1852  there 
was  but  a single  Presbyterian  in  the  board,  and  the 
majority  were  infidels  and  nothingarians!”  And 
this  is  a matter  of  very  serious  consideration  in  the 
present  day,  when  our  literary  institutions  are  so 
generally  seeking  for  endowments  to  secure  their 
permanence,  and  increase  their  efficiency.  The 
liberal-hearted  Christian  is  willing,  nay,  anxious  to 
give  as  God  has  prospered  him,  to  lay  broad  and 
deep  the  foundations  of  these  much-needed  semina- 
ries of  Christian  learning.  But  he  asks,  How  can  I 


47 


know  that  these  funds  may  not  be  perverted]  What 
security  can  be  given  that  these  fortified  places, 
upon  which  I am  Avilling  to  labor  and  to  spend  my 
substance,  may  not  yet  be  occupied  by  the  enemy, 
and  their  guns  turned  against  the  walls  of  Zion] 
These  questions  are  not  impertinent,*  and  we  can- 
not but  believe  that  direct  supervision  and  control 
on  the  part  of  the  higher  judicatories  of  the  Church, 
afford  the  best,  if  not  the  only  security  against  the 
introduction  of  unsound  men  into  the  boards  of 
management  and  instruction,  and  thus  most  effect- 
ually guard  against  any  perversion  of  sacred  funds 
from  the  original  purpose  of  the  donors.  It  has 
been  well  said,  with  reference  to  this  very  point: — 
“ The  Church,  indeed,  has  had  her  own  periods  of 
religious  decline,  but  whilst  human  infirmity  is  visi- 
ble in  all  institutions  among  men,  it  is  certain  that 
there  is  no  guardianship  of  the  truth  so  reliable  as 
the  Church  of  God — divine  in  origin,  sustained  by 
the  Holy  Spirit,  ministered  unto  by  the  ambassadors 

* Dickinson  College  is  a case  in  point,  though  we  would  be  far  from  con- 
founding the  religious  teaching  or  influence  of  that  excellent  Institution 
with  that  in  such  Colleges  as  Harvard.  We  regard  its  officers  and  teachers, 
as  brethren  beloved  in  the  Lord;  but  it  is  notorious  that  the  system  of 
divine  truth  held  by  them  is  far  from  being  that  which  was  dear  to  the 
founders  and  early  benefactors  of  the  College.  Several  of  its  Presidents, 
and  among  them,  pre-eminently,  Dr.  John  M.  Mason,  were  the  distin- 
guished champions  of  that  system  of  belief  which  one  of  its  late  Presidents 
denounces  as  “the  withering  doctrine  which  has,  in  almost  every  country 
where  it  has  had  any  length  of  sway,  unnerved  the  energies  of  the 
Church,  and  driven  her  away  from  pure  Christianity  into  formalism, 
Socinianism,  or  Rationalism.” — Observations  in  Europe , vol.  ii.,  p.  272. 


48 


of  Christ,  enriched  with  ordinances  and  sacraments, 
and  purchased  by  blood.” 

This  ecclesiastical  connection  and  supervision  has 
been  felt  by  many  of  our  most  distinguished  and 
successful  educators  to  be  the  great  demand  of  the 
age — not  only  to  secure  the  permanence  of  our  insti- 
tutions df  learning,  and  to  guard  against  perversion, 
but  also  to  promote  their  efficiency  by  Christian 
sympathy  and  cooperation.  “ There  is  a feeling 
deep  and  strong,  and  daily  becoming  stronger  and 
deeper,  that  we  must  adopt  some  more  adequate 
measures  for  the  training  of  our  children,  and  that 
nothing  short  of  a complete  equipment  of  edu- 
cational institutions,  under  the  supervision  of  the 
Church  herself  can  thoroughly  meet  our  exigencies.”* 
There  has  probably  never  been  a school  more 
blessed  with  Christian  influences  than  the  Female 
Seminary  at  Mount  Holyoke.  Its  pious  founder, 
Miss  Lyon,  declared  that,  “while  it  should  offer 
every  advantage  which  the  state  of  female  education 
in  this  country  will  allow,  its  brightest  feature  will 
be,  that  it  is  a school  of  Christ.”  And  such  has 
ever  been  its  character;  yet  this  devoted  teacher 
was  painfully  conscious  of  the  need  of  just  such  a 
system  as  we  contend  for,  and  in  one  of  her  letters 
exclaims,  “O  that  the  Church  would  take  our 
highest  female  seminaries  under  her  direct  control, 
protection,  and  support!”  But  this  whole  subject, 


Dr.  Boardman’s  Sermon,  June  6,  1852. 


49 


in  its  various  aspects,  has  been  ably  and  thoroughly 
treated  by  the  distinguished  Professor  to  whom  we 
have  already  referred — one  of  the  most  profound 
thinkers  not  only  of  the  Church,  but  of  the  age. 
After  a thorough  and  exhaustive  examination  of  all 
the  plans  for  securing  an  adequate  education  for  tlye 
young,  Dr.  Hodge  says: — “ We  ought  to  look  for- 
ward, and  strive  to  carry  out  the  good  old  Presbyte- 
rian plan,  of  having  one  or  more  schools  in  every 
parish,  a classical  academy  in  every  Presbytery,  and 
a college  in  every  Synod,  all  under  the  control  of  the 
Church.”* 

In  the  practical  working  of  this  “ Church  care,” 
it  is  not  denied,  there  may  be  difficulties  and  even 
embarrassments.  So  long  as  “we  have  this  treasure 
in  earthen  vessels”  what  scheme  is  free  from  imper- 
fection'? There  is  no  magic  influence  in  the  con- 
necting bond,  which  secures  judicious  and  efficient 
management  for  those  Institutions  under  the  watch 
and  care  of  the  Church;  whether  it  be  the  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  the  Synodical  College,  or  the  Pres- 
byterial  Academy.  A large  body  of  men,  changing 
from  year  to  year,  with  their  annual  sessions  of  a 
few  days,  crowded  with  important  business,  cannot 
inform  themselves  thoroughly  of  the  condition  and 
wants  of  a college,  nor  adopt  any  settled  policy  as 
to  the  many  phases  of  its  interior  life  and  manage- 
ment. All  such  matters  of  detail,  the  Synod  of  Phi- 

* Address  delivered  before  the  General  Assembly,  I84T. 

4 


50 


ladelphia  wisely  refers  to  the  faithful  and  competent 
men,  whom  she  selects  as  Trustees  and  Instructors 
of  her  College,  laying  down  merely  the  general  out- 
lines of  the  course  they  are  expected  to  follow:  just 
as  the  General  Assembly  does  with  the  Directors  of 
her  Theological  Seminaries,  and  the  members  of  her 
various  Boards.  The  Christian  public  reposes  con- 
fidence in  the  orthodoxy,  fidelity,  and  ability  of  men 
thus  selected ; and  while  the  great  ends  of  education 
are  thereby  secured,  is  willing  to  cooperate  actively 
with  those  employed  in  the  more  immediate  manage- 
ment, at  the  same  time  allowing  them  a wide  margin 
in  matters  about  which  it  is  not  expected  that  all 
men  will  think  alike. 

It  was  feared,  when  the  experiment  was  first  tried, 
that  this  control  of  our  literary  institutions  would 
beget,  on  the  floor  of  Synod,  the  clamor  of  “many 
masters;”  that  the  failure  to]  secure  the  management 
would  produce — with  some  at  least — a state  of  feel- 
ing toward  the  Institution  more  to  be  regretted  than 
a lack  of  interest  in  its  welfare ; or  that  the  various 
discussions  would  afford  a too  favorable  opportunity 
for  the  ventilation  of  private  and  personal  animosi- 
ties toward  the  officers  and  instructors,  under  the 
pretence  of  zeal  for  the  interests  of  education.  Hap- 
pily these  fears  have  not  been  realized.  The  legis- 
latures which  control  State  Institutions  of  learning 
may  be  the  arena  of  partisan  strife,  and  the  lofty 
aims  of  the  higher  education  become  entangled 
with  selfish  ends,  or  degraded  by  schemes  for  the 


\ 


51 

gratification  of  hatred  and  malice ; but  we  blush 
when  such  things  are  suggested  of  a Court  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  There,  if  anywhere  upon  the 
earth,  we  look  with  confidence  for  prayerful  delibe- 
ration, calm  and  considerate  judgment,  prudent 
action;  all  pervaded  by  a devotion  to  the  Great 
Teacher,  which  precludes  unworthy  and  selfish  mo- 
tives, and  inspires  even  a spirit  of  self-sacrifice,  that 
his  glorious  cause  may  be  advanced.  Such,  we  must 
gratefully  say,  has  been  the  Synodical  history  of 
Lafayette  College ; an  unvarying  record,  from  year  to 
year,  of  cordial,  Christian  sympathy,  of  prompt  and 
generous  support.  It  is  this  which  has  given  to  the 
College  its  present  efficiency,  and  it  is  to  this  we  look 
for  that  extended  influence  and  usefulness  which 
its  friends  confidently  anticipate  for  it  in  the  future. 

To  you,  therefore,  my  brethren  of  the  Synod, 
I would  renewedly  commend  the  interests  of  the 
College.  Be  assured  that  its  Alumni,  Trustees  and 
Instructors  regard,  as  of  priceless  value,  this  “ most 
salutary  connection  with  the  Christian  brotherhood 
while  the  Christian  public,  with  a growing  apprecia- 
tion of  the  importance  of  all  our  educational  institu- 
tions, looks  to  your  faithful  custodianship,  that  the 
great  interests  which  the  Church  already  has  here,* 

* It  would  perhaps  he  out  of  place  here  to  enlarge  upon  this  statement ; 
yet  we  would  beg  to  record  the  opinion  of  one  of  the  wisest  and  best  men 
the  Church  has  ever  produced.  In  1837,  when  the  institution  was  scarcely 
beyond  its  infancy,  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander  said,  at  a meeting  in  Philadel- 
phia, “I  should  he  very  sorry  to  see  the  ground  at  Easton  abandoned,  and  the 
labor  losU  It  must  not  be  !”  See  Dr.  Junkin’s  published  Letter,  Jan.  2, 1864. 


52 


shall  suffer  neither  loss  nor  detriment ; and  to  the 
continuance  of  your  hearty  co-operation  that  the 
College  may  become  still  more  effective  in  the  work 
of  a sound,  thorough  Christian  education.  Lafayette 
College,  although  young  in  years,  has  already  sent 
forth  many  of  her  sons  to  prominent  and  influential 
positions  in  the  various  walks  of  life ; but  it  is  her 
distinguishing  honor  that  nearly  half  of  her  Alumni 
have  devoted  themselves  to  the  ministry  of  the 
Word — some  of  them  in  heathen  lands  sealing  their 
testimony,  like  the  faithful  witnesses  of  old,  with 
their  blood.  Could  we  this  day  stand  by  the  new- 
made  grave  of  Gayley  in  China,  and  of  Lcewenthal 
in  India,*'  there  would  come  from  those  sealed  lips  a 
more  eloquent  appeal  than  any  I could  utter  in  behalf 
of  God’s  word:  that  its  lessons  of  wisdom  may  take 
precedence  of  all  others,  in  these  halls  of  instruction 
where  they  studied  and  prayed,  and  where  they  con- 
secrated themselves  to  the  work  of  carrying  its 
blessed  truth  to  the  benighted  regions  of  the  earth. 

Let  us  strive,  brethren,  that  Layfayette  College 
may  not  fall  behind  her  sister  institutions  in  afford- 
ing thorough  instruction  in  the  sciences,  letters,  and 
arts;  but  let  it  be  our  most  earnest  endeavor  here  to 
honor  and  exalt  that  one  incomparable  Book,  which 
God  himself  declared  He  had  magnified  above 
all  His  name. 

* The  Rev.  Levi  Janvier.  D.D.,  who  was  murdered  in  India  about  the 
same  time  as  Mr.  Lcewenthal,  was  among  the  earliest  students  at  Lafayette, 
though  h^  did  not  complete  the  whole  course. 


